Moving-picture machine.



G. R. UEBELMESSER. MOVING PICTURE MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 26, 1909.

WITNESSE I INVENTOR 'wzm ATTORNEY Patented ma 30, 1911-.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

C. R. UEBELMESSER. MOVING PICTURE MAQHINE. APPLICATION FILED MAR. 26,1909.

Patented May 30, 1911.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

INVENTOR qflVITIJESSEiSZ:

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE- 1 CHARLES R. UEBELMESSER, OF NEWYYORKfN.Y., A SS IGNOR TO AMERICAN MOVING- PIC'I'URE MACHINE COMPANY, OF NEWYORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF. NEW

YORK. I

MOVING-PICTURE MACHINE.

Patented May 30, 1911.

Applicatiofl filed March 26, 1909. Serial No. 485,881.

To all whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES R. UEBEL- MnssER, a subject of the Emperorof Germany, and a resident of the city of New York, in the county andState of New York, United States of America, have invented certain newand useful Improvements in Moving-Picture Machines, of which-thefollowing is a specification.

My invention relates to moving picture machines which may be used fortaking or for projecting a series of pictures in successive poses, andits object is to improve upon apparatus of this character;

I will describe my invention in the following specification and pointout the novel features thereof in the appended claims.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 is a sectional side elevation of amoving picture machlne'made according to my nvention.

'Fig. 2 is a sectional end elevation of this apparatus. Fig. 3 is apartial sectional end elevation of a portion of the apparatus, thesection being taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1 but the leverand a part ofthe lug with which it is'connected are not sectioned.

Like characters of reference designate corresponding parts in all of thefigures.

1O designates the base or standard upon which the apparatus is mounted.

11 is the frame or casing of the machine which supports certain of 'its'mechanism and incloses its working parts.

12 designates the film at I the point at which it is brought into themachine. It is carried down over the rear of the casing and led off at13 to a suitable receiving reel.

The film may be ided through a channel formed in the tilting back l4which is pivoted to the lower portion of-the casing at 15. 16 is aspring-catch for holding this back in position. The tilting backisprovided with an orifice 17 which has a width' approximately equal tothat of the pictures which are on thefilm, or to be taken thereon, andof a vertical height somewhat greater than that of such pictures.

At 18 a roller may be pivoted to the back to hold the film against adriving spool 29 which will be pointed out later.

20 designates the driving shaft of the apparatus which may be driven bany suitable power. In the drawings I ave shown auxiliary sliaft 23, areshown.

it arranged to be manually rotated by means of a crank 21.

At 22 a pair of bevel gears, which transmit the rotation of the drivingshaft to an Keyed to this auxiliary shaft is a worm-gear 24:. Theworm-gear 2 L is in mesh with and arranged to drive a gear 25 which isrotatably supported upon a shaft 26. This gear is in mesh with a pinion27 which is slidably splined to a shaft 28 upon which is affixed thefilm-driving spool 29. The teeth of this gear and pinion are set-at anangle for a purpose which I shall presently set forth. It is obviousfrom the above that the rotation of the main shaft 20 will be impartedto the driving spool 29, but not necessarily at the same rate. The ,filmmay be provided with the usual perforations along'its edges into whichprojections on the driving spool enterto drive the film with acontinuous longitudinal movement. The roller 18 prevents the film fromslipping away from engagemerft with the driving spool.

30 designates a grooved collar which is afiixed to or is an integralpart of the pinion" 27. A spur-gear 31 meshes with the grooves in thecollar 30. This gear is affixed to a shaft-32, the outer end of which'isprovided with an adjusting handle 33' on the outside of casing 11. Itmay be seen that a partial rotation of this shaft 32 will'cause thecollar 30 and the pinion 27 to be slltl along the shaft 28 in onedirection or the other.j This sliding movement of the pinion 27 willcause a partial rotation of the shaft 28 in relation to the shaft 26onaccount of the angular disposition of the pinion teeth. The drivingspool 29 may thus be rotated .a desired amount for the purpose ofbringing the pictures upon the film into registerwith certain parts ofthe apparatus. In thi's'connection it is to be noted that this partialrotation of the driving spool may be made while the gear is .either atrest or rotating. It is referable to make the face of the pinion 2?somewhat wider than that of the gear 25 to provide for this'slidingmovement.

34 is a pinion afixed to the auxiliary shaft 23 and in mesh with algear35 on a shaft 36. 37 is a cam also aflixed' t'o shaft. 36and arranged torotate therewith. This camis constructed with a groove which is shown inFig. 2 and designated by the numerals 38 and 39. I

40 is a reciprocatory member vertically guided at 41 and 42 by bracketsaffixed to the casing 11. 43 is a pin projecting from this member intothe cam groove above pointed out. The reciprocatory member isconstructed to form a diaphragm having an orifice at 44 of approximatelythe size and form of one of the film pictures' Directly opposite thisorifice and supported upon the reciprocatory member is a reflector 46such, for example, as a mirror or prism with its reflecting surface setpreferably at an angle of 45 to its line of movement. Directly abovethis reflector is a similar stationary reflector 47 which is supportedby the casing 11 of the machine with its reflecting surface parallelwith that of the reflector 46.

50 designates a'lens holder which may be suitably supported by thecasing 11 by means of some such arrangement as that shown in Figs. 1 and3, in which 51 designates stationary guides and 52 brackets aflixed tothe lens holder and fitting over the guides. By this arrangement thelenses may be moved together in a direction parallel with their axes.

53 is a lug afiixed to the lens holder and arranged to carry a pin 54.

55 is a bell-crank lever which is pivoted to a stationary point at 56.One arm of this lever is connected with the lens holder, and its otherarm is connected with the reciprocatory member 40 at 57. It is evidentthat by this mechanism the vertical reciprocation of the member 40 maybe imparted in a horizontal direction to the lens holder so that thedistance from the surface of the reflector 46 to the lens or lenses maybe kept constant.

I will now describe the operation of this apparatus, when it is used forprojecting pictures.

The film is placed between the orifices 17 and'44. By the simplemanipulation of the adjusting handle 33 it may be moved until one of theictures thereon registers with the inner orifice 44. When light ispassed through the film the light rays will take some such paths asthose indicated by broken linesand wilLbe reflected through the lensesin holder 50 so that the picture may be projected upon a screen or othersurface. Now a rotation of the shaft 20 will cause the film to be drawndownward with a continuous movement. At the same time the portion 38 ofthe cam groove, acting through pin 43, will cause the reciprocatorymember 40 with its orifice 44 and reflector 46 to be moved downward inunison with the film. If the mechanism for sliding the lens holder isusedthe lens holder will at the same time be drawn inward. The projectedpicture upon the screen will therefore remain stationary. When the filmhas been drawn down a distance approximately equal to the width of oneof the pictures the portion 39 of the cam groove will engage the pin 43and cause the reciprocatory member to be quickly raised until itsorifice and reflector are in alinement with the'next succceding pictureon the film. This upward movement may be made as quickly as desired asit is obviously merely a matter of proportioning the two parts of thecam groove to obtain the desired proportion of downward and upwardmovements in each cycle of operation. When the bell-crank lever 55 isused this upward movement of the member 40 will push the lens holder outagain to its first position so that the focus will be maintained. Withthis machine the use of a shutter is not necessary, although, of

course, one may be added if desired.

When this apparatus is used as a camera only such'changes as will heobviously apparent to one skilled in the art need be made. By way ofsuggestion, some of these obvious changes are the addition of a shut terover the lens and the provision of a light tight inclosure for thesensitized film. The cam 37 may also be modified to suit the newconditions.

This invention ll believe to be basically new, and the appended claimsare intended to cover the invention broadly and are not to beinterpreted to be limited to the exact mechanisms which I have describedas an illustration of one of the manners in which the invention may becarried into effect.

What I claim is.-

1. In a moving picture machine, a single fixed reflector, a movablereflector, and means for intermittently moving the movable reflectortoward the fixed reflector and from said fixed reflector in unison witha film and in a line parallel with the path of movement of the film. 2.In a -moving picture machine, means for imparting a continuous movementto a film, a single fixed reflector, a movable reflector, and means forreciprocating the movable reflector with one of its movements ofreclprocation in unison with the movement of the film in a line parallelwith the path of movement of the film.

3. In a moving picture machine, a lens, means for imparting a continuousmove mentto a film, a reflector, means for reciprocatlng said reflectorwith one of its movements of reciprocation in unison with the movementof the film, and means for malntaining a constant distance between thelens and said reflector.

4. In a moving picture machine, a lens, means for imparting a continuousmovement to a film, a single fixed reflector, a movable reflector, meansfor intermittently moving the movable reflector in unison with the 'filmaway from the fixed reflector in a stationary reflector and means forreciproline parallel with the path of movement of eating the movablereflector and the lens.

the film, and means for maintaining a con- In testimony whereof I havesigned my stant distance between the lens and the movname to thisspecification in the presence of 5 able reflector. two subscribingwitnesses.

5. In a moving picture machine, a stationary reflector, a movablereflector arranged CHARLES UEBELMESSEB" to be reciprocatedtoward andaway from Witnesses:

the stationary reflector, a lens arranged to ELLA TUOH, 10 bereciprocated toward and away from the LEONORA GIBSON.

